Made for a RepRap Mendel, but also works nicely with a MakerBot!

This is also a derivative of MakerBot's Filament Spindle thingiverse.com/thing:3116
and Zaggo's spool thingiverse.com/thing:3640 but mainly a derivative of Spacexula's printable horizontal filament spool thingiverse.com/thing:3542 redesigned and re-written in OpenSCAD. The OpenSCAD code also requires the mendel include files from the Parametric Mendel project thingiverse.com/thing:3118. Woo!

A few years ago I was interested in Penultimate Modular Origami by James S. Plank cs.utk.edu/~plank/plank/origami/penultimate/intro.html folding paper into geometrical spheres.
Now there's a rapman in my stable and paper turned into polylactic acid. This is my first printed object, I hope you"ll enjoy it! Can be pressed, stretched, thrown, twisted, and the bow-connectors could be basic elements for connecting rubbers into anything!
In TwistinTheCube.skp I tried to reveal how you get a Qball by twisting a cube, before it becomes a cuboctahedron.

The standard acrylic involute gears were driving me nuts with their incessant CLICK-CLACK CLICK-CLACK noises, so I designed these herringbone gears to replace them. Now I can't hear my printer from the next room :)

The motor gear has a 'floor' to help you position the grub/nut easily and precisely. The rebate for the nut has also been set back from the shaft a bit to make it easier to fit than ever.

An additional advantage is that they are constantly in mesh, so there is no slack to take up when reversing direction (if you use M227, this happens hundreds/thousands of times each print!) so you will have cleaner prints too.

This is a dummy model of the Arcol.hu hot-end v3.0, because a hot-end can't be printed using plastic:)

You can print it to get a general feeling of the actual size. Also the mounting should be correct, so if you are working on your own machine, or new drive mechanism, you can adapt it easily by printing out this model.

The M3 bolt heads are commented out in the .scad file, to be printable.

I also added real photos for comparison.

You can read more about the hot-end itself at:
blog.arcol.hu/?p=1746
wiki.arcol.hu/arcol-hu-hot-end

NOTE: THING:4599 IS AN UPDATED VERSION OF THIS WITH A LITTLE THICKER TRAILING EDGE FOR DURABILITY.

This is a rubber band powered flying thing. Range 50 feet using a standard 3" x 1/8" rubber band.

Per Natetrue's recommendation, I rounded the ends of the blades. File: flying_thing_100601b_rounded.stl has the rounded blades. see last image.

See images "flying_instructions_page_1/2.jpg"

--- SAFETY WARNING LABEL ---
Use appropriate eye protection especially in the case of inter-office warfare. Care should be taken to avoid unprotected non-combatants.

This is NOT a child's toy; any use by children should be under close adult supervision.

Here is my take on merging the lowrider and the mendel inspired y carriage for the cupcake.

link to bearings:
vxb.com/page/bearings/PROD/3mm/623ZZ10-1

I went with smaller bearings than the Mendel because it allowed me to do everything with M3 screws and it allowed me to drop the height a bit.

This design is shorter than the standard platform by 10mm, I was pushing for more, but the bearings killed the height gains. It does mean that you can gain back about half of the height that you loose by putting in the automatic build platform.

Also, the y rails have been separated to 70mms so hopefully that means that the platform is a bit more stable.

I attached the solidworks file for people who want to play (WARNING - the file is messy and I was bad and made all of my parts in one part file). If you would like any other formats like .igs, .step and the like, just shout.

Should have all of the holes teardropped later today. - Truncated teardrop holes are up, that's a pain.

Update:
The stl files from solidworks would not slice in Rep G, I have no idea why, if you know please tell me.

I reuploaded all of the stl files and tested them in Rep G 19 they seem to work but I will not have a chance to print until Monday.

I have all of the parts, now on to the debug... so you do not have to...

The updated files are in the zip file, I got rid of the first generation of parts. Things were moved around a bit and these are the updates after printing round one and putting it into the makerbot. I should have all of the gen 2 parts printed and through debug tomorrow.

Update 2 - I got the bearings in and other that a few "What the hell was I thinking..." moments that were easily repaired with an X-acto knife, everything went great. I'm in the process of printing the gen 3 parts and everything should be cool now. I'll post pictures and video once the final draft is printed.

Update 3 - In process of using gen 3 platform to print gen 4 platform. Once I have printed and assembled it, I will upload files. I think that will be it for variations.

Update 4 - Gen 5 files are out and I can now say you can download them and print!

Update 5 - Instructions are up.

Update 6 - I just uploaded the gen 7 version - I have not had a chance to print it yet, I was getting annoyed with the slight curve in my heat spreader and decided to rip it apart and lap it until it was flat.

This update addresses:

Adding nut pockets on all adjusting screws for bearing tension to make adjusting easier (do not have to hold nut in place)

Back X bearings cluster has been reworked so the is less interference with the X pulley.

Back X bearing adjustment screw head has been nested into the plastic to have less interference with X belt.

Interference between Y belt attachment nuts and plastic bodies has been addressed

X belt attachment point has been lowered.

First shot at integrating endstops have been added.


I think that that is about it. I will shout when the directions have been updated, everything should be the same except the endstop part.

If you have already printed this and do not want to reprint, reprint parts 09 and 16, those have to do with X belt and pulley issues. (and they are small)

I just sent out the third package of nuts, washers, and screws. If anyone else wants them, just message me.

Gaffertape kindly updated the files so if you are using the older repG and skeinforge, use the resaved gen 7 files.

Update: Finally updated for mechanical endstops, instructions still need to be updated though.

A shortened version on the Iris box to make printing a little faster.

Jig for cutting worm type pinch wheel on M8 bolt for Wade's geared nema 17 extruder thingiverse.com/thing:1794 with a drill, but without using a vise.

I designed this tool to help me hob a toothed channel in a drive bolt for a wade's extruder. I've printed one, and used it successfully.

Thank you to JadeKnight for creating the original one. thingiverse.com/thing:3066

I have modified the top piece slightly to accept the MakerBot Z rod, as I had four of them lying around after my ACME Z-roid upgrade (got them off flea-bay, and the seller is truly excellent).

There are two versions, and I think I will be using one of each. On the original one I can thread the Z-rod in there, while the other version will let the Z-rod slide freely. This should make changing the spool a fairly simple task.

I will post pics of it soon. Can't find the 1/4" dowels I purchased yesterday. This is my first attempt at using Sketchup, so hopefully didn't hack up the piece too bad.

My simplified version of mendel. All axes are compatible with regular mendel. Actual information you can find on RepRap wiki reprap.org/wiki/Prusa_Mendel and most recent OpenSCAD source files are on my GitHub github.com/prusajr/PrusaMendel

Last update is, that its working and its pretty darn good :-)

This is a complete set of printable corners for the RapMan 3.x printer from Bits From Bytes.

They may be used as stronger replacements for the (very fragile) standard acrylic corners, and are designed to be installed without having to take the whole machine apart. Most corners now require only 3 easily-accessible bolts (down from 8), and importantly, no more fiddly grub screws :)

Apart from making the whole machine stronger, the Z motor corner now includes a mechanism to easily and accurately adjust the tension on the Z belt. This is now a one-handed operation, not three-handed!

The Y motor corner requires 2 files (top_backleft.stl, ymotor_clip.stl) whilst the Z motor corner requires 4 files (bottom_frontright_backleft.stl, zmotor_*.stl) All other corners are each 1 file only; even the top corners, as the bearing holders are now all integrated.

I have endurance-tested these parts with a 24-hour non-stop print and everything is still running smoothly. If I find any weaknesses, I will update the STLs.

NB: Some of the green STL auto-renders displayed left and below are mirrored; they are however correct once you download them (tested in both BFB Axon and MiniMagics)

The reprap is not the only 3d printer that can replicate itself, now the Makerbot can to.

This Makerbot is made out of aproximatly 150 individual pieces that is printed on , "yes you guessed it) a Makerbot.

My Makerbot worked hard everyday for about a month straight to finish this project, and i am immensly happy about the end resoult.
There are more pictures on the bottom of this page;)

(The pictures doesnt do it justice one bit, but it really is a thing of beauty)

Now i have added a zip file that includes all stl- and max-files.

I hit the store to buy a ceiling mount for my Optoma HD66, but the store was out of stock. So I designed up this one, and printed it out. It's designed specifically for the HD66's slightly odd 100 x 100 x 110 mm triangular M3 mount, but a redesigned ProjectorPlate.stl will let you stick any projector on there. Swivels in XX, YY and ZZ, and is fairly stable too.

Have you ever wanted a Gothic Cathedral of your very own?

Are you intimidated by the centuries long construction schedule, and the punishing job requirements of being a European Bishop during the Dark Ages?

Then We Have a Thing For YOU!

The Gothic Cathedral Play Set!

Want to upgrade your print-speed?

This is an extruder that allows you to mount a beefy, high-torque, NEMA23 stepper motor. You can directly attach it to the Bowden cable. With the Bowden extruder (see my other designs under the Thingiverse tag: bowden), the plastic throughput is your print speed bottleneck. Or should I say, was your bottleneck: With a NEMA23 motor I've been able to extrude more than 15 mm^3 of molten ABS per second. That's about a (fully solid) mendel in 22 hours! So now XY-movements are the bottleneck again. For this, I think I need to further reduce the weight of the carriage (lighter rods, etc.).

Usage:
You can simply press the Bowden cable with an M6 nut into the T-slot (to attach the extruder drive mechanism to the extruder head via a Bowden cable).
Note: An M5 nut will also work (for smaller PTFE bowden cables), it will be able to slide slightly, but its movement is constrained by the filament.

This is an updated version of rustyspoon's 1 sheet mini-mendel. It's basically the same but includes four instances of a part that was missing (thanks for exporting it, Bas Pijls). For some of the washers I'm not sure whether those were meant to be printed or bought, but since printing them is cooler left them in there.

When I built a mini-mendel from these prints, I actually got it fully working. For info see my documentation on my blog. For more pictures, see here:
picasaweb.google.com/lh/view?uname=erikdebruijn1&isOwner=true&tags=mini-mendel#

Documentation of ordering and preparation:
blog.erikdebruijn.nl/archives/129-Mini-mendel-printed!.html

Documentation of my build and a promo-movie of the mini-mendel:
blog.erikdebruijn.nl/archives/131-Mini-mendel-built-and-working!.html

I'm still working on extending the other documentation! Here's a bill of materials (BOM):
spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AknsQz4reBoKdHc2MHRfRTZHOHRWTmhCZ0 1xQWpjYnc&hl=en

Please help me extend it and add suppliers and such.

The printed parts you see in the pictures are for a hackerspace in Portugal.

rbisping did the SCAD Mendel Extruder design, and I made it parametric as well as adding support-free points over the horizontal holes. The parameters allow you to specify the diameter of the bearing race used in the pinch mechanism, its securing bolt, and the diameter of the filament.

I have also left the hole for the bearing support slightly oversize to allow fiddling for various sizes of bearing, shaft and filament.

Derivative of Bre's dragon head. I altered the mesh to be flat on the bottom and let the horns be attached to the build platform so they print nice. Also changed the head horns to print without illegal overhangs.

Snowflake Tree Ornament for your Xmass tree and/or gifts.
Source is Rhino 3D format (version 3.0).

Initially I haven't printed this out due to storm tossing the boat around that night. But hearing that we're likely to have a supply of PLA soon in the US I felt inspired.

This is the next step in my attempt to make a Sarrus linkage based 3D printer. The idea is to have a cartesian mechanism without those long rods and bearings.

I built three of the Mark III and mounted them in a x-y arrangement as shown. They can move over a square about 105 mm wide, and someday may carry an extruder. They are driven by DC motors taken from inkjet printers. These motors are driven in a servo arrangement using quadrature optical encoders and optical strips removed from the same printers.

Voltage regulated tea :)

I couldn't get the typical tea infuser holes to print nicely (too small), so I used a different approach: a large hole on the back covered by a grid that lets the water in and out while keeping the tea leaves inside.

So after making the fully printable hinge, I was able to move along with making a hand. Its got all of the degrees of freedom as a human hand. Its a bit bigger then a normal human hand, therefore its evil.

All parts total was about 10 hours of printing.

Available fully assembled here: vendio.com/stores/standardcustom/item/custom-design/-robot-hand/lid=2124336

This is my version of z-stage crank.
Felt natural to design this when I got my bot up and running but if someone feels lazy, here you go.

A simple trace and extrude of the Microformats logo done at SAPO Codebits 2009

A box that screws in a zigzag way. Python generated OpenSCAD model.

Since OpenSCAD does not support variable reassignment and recursion I wrote some python glue code to generate OpenSCAD models.

Now we can haz Turing Complete Models :)

There is an improved version of this available: thingiverse.com/thing:1414

This is a pen holder designed for a Norland Research Calculator Controlled Robot: smallrobot.com/

It is sized to work with a standard full-size Crayola marker ~14.5mm diameter. There is a bridge between the clamp and the base which acts as a spring hinge to keep pen pressure consistent across bumps and dips.

~15 min print on MakerBot #322

Here is a simple hinge I was working on. It uses the 3mm plastic spool as the pin.

I use it to hang tools on our makerbot. It's also a part of a magnetic key hanger and a tool holder.

Just some parametric and printable key rings modeled in openSCAD.org

The trinket is my way of wishing makerbot happy holidays and it was printed before our extruder ran into some trouble a few days ago. I've also modeled icons for other projects I got to know and love (miniature reprap mendel, thingiverse's gear logo, openMaterials logo), and I'm just waiting to be able to print them before uploading those files.